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Steve's Cafe, Trump and History

Trump and History

Hi there, Steve Kaufmann here at Steve's Café where I like to chat about things that interest me and get reactions from people.

As you know, I have my other channel where I talk about language learning. You can always go there if you want to listen to me talk about language learning or speak in other languages. Today, I want to talk about Donald Trump's place in history and talk a little about history because, as you know, history is something that I find fascinating.

I think the whole Donald Trump phenomenon will go down in history as a time when lots of Americans went mad and people will be counted on how they reacted.

I'm talking about leading figures like this Governor Christie and now John McCain who have come out supporting Trump. I think the person that we see in Donald Trump is extremely unpleasant, unreliable and unpredictable. He will say anything. He is tremendously vindictive and says very nasty things about his opponents, says nasty things about other people, very thin-skinned, very ignorant about policy and history. That's fine, but his ignorance doesn't seem to prevent him from making the wildest statements about how he's going to fix the economy by sticking it to the Chinese and the whole idea that you sort of negotiate from power. It doesn't work; I knew that in business very early.

There was a period when British Columbia had the wood that everybody wanted.

I can remember in the seventies representatives from B.C. would come to Japan and have a very arrogant approach to the Japanese. The basic principle was if you want our wood this is how you're going to get it. Well, subsequently, all kinds of other competitors came into the Japanese market and now the British Columbia coastal industries that were once the kings are now in disarray. So that doesn't last very long, in fact, long-lasting relationships in business, in anything, depend on finding common ground, common allies and friends. It's not a matter of, as he put it, I believe in compromises, as long as I get my way. He's a thoroughly odious person, totally unfit to be President of the United States.

I think there's just some kind of a mad hysteria that has grabbed the Americans, which is not unlike what has happened in many countries.

I'm not comparing Trump to Hitler, not for a moment, but vast numbers of Germans, because they felt they had been stabbed in the back in the First World War, things weren't going well economically and it's not fair, came behind this guy. I think many of the senior industrialists thought that once he takes power we'll be able to control him and they weren't able to control him.

We see this mass hysteria in many places, I mean Pol Pot.

Talk about the Cultural Revolution in China, apparently Dung Chow Ping visited the United States sometime in the seventies after he had come back to power and he was sitting beside Shirley MacLaine. Shirley MacLaine told him, oh, you know, when I was in China I met this professor who said that he was so grateful to Mao for having sent him to the countryside to learn from the peasants and Dung Chow Ping said he was lying. But there you had this mass hysteria in China called the Cultural Revolution.

I'm not comparing the scale of the hysteria in the United States to Nazi Germany or the Cultural Revolution, but it's a bit like that because it doesn't make sense that such an obviously unfit person should get the support of so many people for the position of President of the United States.

There are a lot of negatives about Hillary Clinton, but the persona that I see on television -- she doesn't have the nastiness, she doesn't say ridiculous things.

She seems human. I don't agree with her unconditional support for trade unions, particularly public sector trade unions, but as I person I think I could live with her. I won't agree with all of her policies. In any case, I don't vote down there, but this whole idea of history and how we look back on history.

Now, of course, the 8th of May is the official ending of the Second World War in Europe and the 9th of May is Victory Day in Russia and they parade all their latest missiles and weapons.

We are biggest and toughest and we can beat everybody up is kind of their message. It wasn't recently, but I saw a film clip of Putin saying that Russia would have won the war without Ukraine. How can you say something so stupid? Who knows, but what's the point of saying something like that. That's like Trump saying if Hillary were a man she'd only get five percent of the vote. Those are perfectly gratuitous and stupid statements. We could also say without Ukraine Russia would have lost the war.

Speaking of commemorations, I don't in Russia they commemorate the 17th of September, I think it was, when the Soviet Union invaded Poland to combine with Hitler in the dismemberment of Poland and then from there go on and take the Baltic states and invade Finland and so forth.

So we're very selective in our memories of things.

I'm a great believer in international collaboration on history.

I see the Poles want to rewrite their history now. I think it's a good thing. I don't agree with a lot of the sort of bending over backwards to apologize that we see in Canada, like the Komagata Maru and stuff like that. I think statements of great apology for events that happened 100 years ago is a bit over the top, but I think there should be lots of historians, possibly from different countries, participating in analyzing what happened in history so we can maybe get a somewhat objective picture of what happened.

At the other end, we have the cynics who say history was always written by the victors.

Well, that's not true. The losers have their history and there are differing points of view. It's a bit like all of these conspiracy theories where everything is bad, history is all lies and the bankers are all crooks, all of that kind of stuff which isn't true.

Ultimately, if you saw my video earlier about the laminated beam, the more we disperse decision making, points of view, power, the better off we're going to be, the more democratic we are.

Not necessarily in the sense of just voting, but in the sense of having a decentralized and pluralistic society where different views are tolerated the better. Therefore, getting back to Trump, the aggressive attempt to silence other people's points of view is a bad, bad omen and I sincerely hope that he becomes a disaster for the Republican Party before he becomes a disaster for the United States and the world economy.

Thanks for listening, bye for now.

Trump and History Trump und die Geschichte Trump y la Historia Trump et l'histoire Trump e la storia トランプと歴史 트럼프와 역사 Trump i historia Trump e a História Трамп и история Trump ve Tarih Трамп та історія 特朗普与历史

Hi there, Steve Kaufmann here at Steve's Café where I like to chat about things that interest me and get reactions from people.

As you know, I have my other channel where I talk about language learning. 如您所知，我有另一个频道来谈论语言学习。 You can always go there if you want to listen to me talk about language learning or speak in other languages. Today, I want to talk about Donald Trump's place in history and talk a little about history because, as you know, history is something that I find fascinating. 今日は、ドナルド・トランプの歴史上の位置について話し、歴史について少し話したいと思います。ご存知のように、歴史は私が魅力的だと思うものだからです。 今天，我想谈谈唐纳德·特朗普在历史上的地位，并谈谈历史，因为如你所知，历史是我觉得很有趣的东西。

I think the whole Donald Trump phenomenon will go down in history as a time when lots of Americans went mad and people will be counted on how they reacted. Je pense que le phénomène Donald Trump restera dans l'histoire comme une période où beaucoup d'Américains sont devenus fous et où les gens seront comptés sur la façon dont ils ont réagi. 多くのアメリカ人が怒り狂った時として、ドナルド・トランプ現象全体が歴史に残ると思います。そして人々は彼らがどのように反応したかを頼りにされるでしょう。 我认为整个唐纳德·特朗普现象将载入史册，因为那时许多美国人都发疯了，人们将根据他们的反应而受到重视。

I'm talking about leading figures like this Governor Christie and now John McCain who have come out supporting Trump. Je parle de personnalités comme le gouverneur Christie et maintenant John McCain qui se sont prononcés en faveur de Trump. 我说的是像克里斯蒂州长和现在的约翰·麦凯恩这样的领导人物，他们都站出来支持特朗普。 I think the person that we see in Donald Trump is extremely unpleasant, unreliable and unpredictable. Je pense que la personne que nous voyons en Donald Trump est extrêmement désagréable, peu fiable et imprévisible. 我认为我们在唐纳德·特朗普身上看到的人是极其令人不愉快、不可靠和不可预测的。 He will say anything. Il dira n'importe quoi. He is tremendously vindictive and says very nasty things about his opponents, says nasty things about other people, very thin-skinned, very ignorant about policy and history. Il est extrêmement vindicatif et dit des choses très méchantes sur ses adversaires, il dit des choses méchantes sur les autres, il est très susceptible, il est très ignorant de la politique et de l'histoire. 他报复心极强，对他的对手说非常难听的话，对其他人也说非常难听的话，脸皮很薄，对政策和历史非常无知。 That's fine, but his ignorance doesn't seem to prevent him from making the wildest statements about how he's going to fix the economy by sticking it to the Chinese and the whole idea that you sort of negotiate from power. C'est très bien, mais son ignorance ne semble pas l'empêcher de faire les déclarations les plus folles sur la façon dont il va redresser l'économie en s'attaquant aux Chinois et sur l'idée que l'on négocie en quelque sorte à partir du pouvoir. 这很好，但他的无知似乎并没有阻止他发表最疯狂的言论，说他将如何通过坚持中国人以及你与权力谈判的整个想法来修复经济。 It doesn't work; I knew that in business very early. Cela ne fonctionne pas ; je l'ai su très tôt dans le monde des affaires. 这不起作用；我很早就在商业领域知道了这一点。

There was a period when British Columbia had the wood that everybody wanted. Il y a eu une période où la Colombie-Britannique avait le bois que tout le monde voulait. 曾经有一段时间，不列颠哥伦比亚省拥有人人都想要的木材。

I can remember in the seventies representatives from B.C. Je me souviens que dans les années soixante-dix, des représentants de la Colombie-Britannique... 我记得七十年代来自 BC 的代表 would come to Japan and have a very arrogant approach to the Japanese. venait au Japon et avait une approche très arrogante à l'égard des Japonais. 来到日本，对日本人态度非常傲慢。 The basic principle was if you want our wood this is how you're going to get it. Le principe de base était le suivant : si vous voulez notre bois, c'est ainsi que vous l'obtiendrez. 基本原则是，如果您想要我们的木材，这就是您获得它的方式。 Well, subsequently, all kinds of other competitors came into the Japanese market and now the British Columbia coastal industries that were once the kings are now in disarray. その後、さまざまな競合他社が日本市場に参入し、かつては王者であったブリティッシュ・コロンビア州の沿岸産業は今や混乱している。 那么，后来各种各样的竞争者都进入了日本市场，现在曾经称王的不列颠哥伦比亚省沿海工业现在陷入了混乱。 So that doesn't last very long, in fact, long-lasting relationships in business, in anything, depend on finding common ground, common allies and friends. En fait, les relations durables dans le monde des affaires, dans n'importe quel domaine, dépendent de la recherche d'un terrain d'entente, d'alliés et d'amis communs. 所以这不会持续很长时间，事实上，在商业上、在任何事情上，持久的关系都取决于找到共同点、共同的盟友和朋友。 It's not a matter of, as he put it, I believe in compromises, as long as I get my way. Il ne s'agit pas, comme il l'a dit, de croire aux compromis, tant que j'obtiens ce que je veux. 正如他所说，这不是一个我相信妥协的问题，只要我能如愿以偿。 He's a thoroughly odious person, totally unfit to be President of the United States.

I think there's just some kind of a mad hysteria that has grabbed the Americans, which is not unlike what has happened in many countries. Je pense qu'une sorte d'hystérie folle s'est emparée des Américains, ce qui n'est pas sans rappeler ce qui s'est passé dans de nombreux pays.

I'm not comparing Trump to Hitler, not for a moment, but vast numbers of Germans, because they felt they had been stabbed in the back in the First World War, things weren't going well economically and it's not fair, came behind this guy. Je ne compare pas Trump à Hitler, pas un instant, mais un grand nombre d'Allemands, parce qu'ils avaient le sentiment d'avoir été poignardés dans le dos pendant la Première Guerre mondiale, que les choses n'allaient pas bien sur le plan économique et que ce n'était pas juste, se sont ralliés à ce type. I think many of the senior industrialists thought that once he takes power we'll be able to control him and they weren't able to control him. Je pense que beaucoup de grands industriels pensaient qu'une fois qu'il aurait pris le pouvoir, nous pourrions le contrôler et ils n'ont pas pu le faire.

We see this mass hysteria in many places, I mean Pol Pot.

Talk about the Cultural Revolution in China, apparently Dung Chow Ping visited the United States sometime in the seventies after he had come back to power and he was sitting beside Shirley MacLaine. Shirley MacLaine told him, oh, you know, when I was in China I met this professor who said that he was so grateful to Mao for having sent him to the countryside to learn from the peasants and Dung Chow Ping said he was lying. Shirley MacLaine lui a dit, oh, vous savez, quand j'étais en Chine, j'ai rencontré ce professeur qui disait qu'il était si reconnaissant à Mao de l'avoir envoyé à la campagne pour apprendre des paysans et Dung Chow Ping a dit qu'il mentait. 雪莉·麦克雷恩告诉他，哦，你知道，当我在中国时，我遇到了一位教授，他说他非常感谢毛泽东派他到农村向农民学习，而邓周平说他在撒谎。 But there you had this mass hysteria in China called the Cultural Revolution.

I'm not comparing the scale of the hysteria in the United States to Nazi Germany or the Cultural Revolution, but it's a bit like that because it doesn't make sense that such an obviously unfit person should get the support of so many people for the position of President of the United States. 我不是在将美国歇斯底里的规模与纳粹德国或文化大革命进行比较，但有点像，因为这样一个明显不适合的人应该得到这么多人的支持，这是没有意义的。美国总统的职位。

There are a lot of negatives about Hillary Clinton, but the persona that I see on television -- she doesn't have the nastiness, she doesn't say ridiculous things. 希拉里·克林顿有很多缺点，但我在电视上看到的她的性格——她没有肮脏的一面，她没有说荒谬的话。

She seems human. 她看起来像人类。 I don't agree with her unconditional support for trade unions, particularly public sector trade unions, but as I person I think I could live with her. Je ne suis pas d'accord avec son soutien inconditionnel aux syndicats, en particulier à ceux du secteur public, mais en tant que personne, je pense que je pourrais vivre avec elle. 我不同意她对工会，特别是公共部门工会的无条件支持，但就我个人而言，我认为我可以和她一起生活。 I won't agree with all of her policies. Je ne suis pas d'accord avec toutes ses politiques. In any case, I don't vote down there, but this whole idea of history and how we look back on history. Quoi qu'il en soit, je ne vote pas là-bas, mais toute cette idée de l'histoire et du regard que nous portons sur l'histoire.

Now, of course, the 8th of May is the official ending of the Second World War in Europe and the 9th of May is Victory Day in Russia and they parade all their latest missiles and weapons. 当然，现在5月8日是欧洲第二次世界大战的正式结束，5月9日是俄罗斯的胜利日，他们展示了所有最新的导弹和武器。

We are biggest and toughest and we can beat everybody up is kind of their message. Nous sommes les plus grands et les plus forts et nous pouvons battre tout le monde, c'est un peu leur message. 我们是最强大、最坚强的，我们可以击败所有人，这是他们传达的信息。 It wasn't recently, but I saw a film clip of Putin saying that Russia would have won the war without Ukraine. Ce n'est pas récent, mais j'ai vu un extrait de film de Poutine disant que la Russie aurait gagné la guerre sans l'Ukraine. 不是最近，但我看到普京的一个电影片段，他说如果没有乌克兰，俄罗斯也会赢得战争。 How can you say something so stupid? Who knows, but what's the point of saying something like that. Qui sait, mais quel est l'intérêt de dire une chose pareille. That's like Trump saying if Hillary were a man she'd only get five percent of the vote. C'est comme si Trump disait que si Hillary était un homme, elle n'obtiendrait que 5 % des voix. 这就像特朗普说，如果希拉里是男性，她只会获得百分之五的选票。 Those are perfectly gratuitous and stupid statements. 这些都是完全无端且愚蠢的言论。 We could also say without Ukraine Russia would have lost the war. On peut également dire que sans l'Ukraine, la Russie aurait perdu la guerre. 我们还可以说，如果没有乌克兰，俄罗斯就会输掉这场战争。

Speaking of commemorations, I don't in Russia they commemorate the 17th of September, I think it was, when the Soviet Union invaded Poland to combine with Hitler in the dismemberment of Poland and then from there go on and take the Baltic states and invade Finland and so forth. En parlant de commémorations, je ne sais pas si, en Russie, on commémore le 17 septembre, je crois, date à laquelle l'Union soviétique a envahi la Pologne pour s'associer à Hitler dans le démembrement de la Pologne et, à partir de là, s'emparer des États baltes, envahir la Finlande et ainsi de suite. 記念日といえば、ロシアでは9月17日だったと思うが、ソ連がポーランドに侵攻してヒトラーと一緒にポーランドを解体し、そこからバルト三国を占領してフィンランドなどに侵攻したことを記念していない。 说到纪念活动，我在俄罗斯不纪念9月17日，我认为是苏联入侵波兰，与希特勒联合肢解波兰，然后从那里继续占领波罗的海国家并入侵芬兰等。

So we're very selective in our memories of things. 所以我们对事物的记忆非常有选择性。

I'm a great believer in international collaboration on history. 我非常相信历史方面的国际合作。

I see the Poles want to rewrite their history now. Je vois que les Polonais veulent maintenant réécrire leur histoire. 我看到波兰人现在想改写他们的历史。 I think it's a good thing. I don't agree with a lot of the sort of bending over backwards to apologize that we see in Canada, like the Komagata Maru and stuff like that. Je ne suis pas d'accord avec le fait que le Canada se plie en quatre pour présenter des excuses, comme le Komagata Maru et d'autres choses de ce genre. 我不同意我们在加拿大看到的很多那种竭尽全力道歉的做法，比如驹形丸之类的。 I think statements of great apology for events that happened 100 years ago is a bit over the top, but I think there should be lots of historians, possibly from different countries, participating in analyzing what happened in history so we can maybe get a somewhat objective picture of what happened. Je pense que les déclarations de grandes excuses pour des événements qui se sont produits il y a 100 ans sont un peu exagérées, mais je pense que de nombreux historiens, éventuellement de différents pays, devraient participer à l'analyse de ce qui s'est passé dans l'histoire afin que nous puissions peut-être obtenir une image quelque peu objective de ce qui s'est passé. 我认为对100年前发生的事件表示深深的歉意有点过分了，但我认为应该有很多历史学家，可能来自不同的国家，参与分析历史上发生的事情，这样我们也许可以得到一些客观的结果发生的事情的图片。

At the other end, we have the cynics who say history was always written by the victors. À l'autre extrémité, nous avons les cyniques qui disent que l'histoire a toujours été écrite par les vainqueurs.

Well, that's not true. Ce n'est pas vrai. The losers have their history and there are differing points of view. It's a bit like all of these conspiracy theories where everything is bad, history is all lies and the bankers are all crooks, all of that kind of stuff which isn't true. C'est un peu comme toutes ces théories du complot où tout est mauvais, où l'histoire n'est que mensonges et où les banquiers sont tous des escrocs, toutes ces choses qui ne sont pas vraies. 这有点像所有这些阴谋论，一切都是坏的，历史都是谎言，银行家都是骗子，所有这些都是不真实的。

Ultimately, if you saw my video earlier about the laminated beam, the more we disperse decision making, points of view, power, the better off we're going to be, the more democratic we are. En fin de compte, si vous avez vu ma vidéo sur la poutre laminée, plus nous dispersons la prise de décision, les points de vue, le pouvoir, mieux nous nous porterons, plus nous serons démocratiques. 最终，如果你之前看过我关于层压梁的视频，我们越分散决策、观点、权力，我们的生活就会越好，我们就越民主。

Not necessarily in the sense of just voting, but in the sense of having a decentralized and pluralistic society where different views are tolerated the better. 不一定是指投票，而是指建立一个去中心化和多元化的社会，更好地容忍不同的观点。 Therefore, getting back to Trump, the aggressive attempt to silence other people's points of view is a bad, bad omen and I sincerely hope that he becomes a disaster for the Republican Party before he becomes a disaster for the United States and the world economy. Par conséquent, pour en revenir à Trump, la tentative agressive de réduire au silence les points de vue des autres est de très mauvais augure et j'espère sincèrement qu'il deviendra un désastre pour le parti républicain avant de devenir un désastre pour les États-Unis et l'économie mondiale. 因此，回到特朗普身上，咄咄逼人地试图压制其他人的观点是一个非常非常糟糕的预兆，我真诚地希望他在成为美国和世界经济的灾难之前先成为共和党的灾难。

Thanks for listening, bye for now. Merci d'avoir écouté, au revoir pour l'instant.